The Body of an Athlete (A new approach to how it responds to the stresses of competition and life)

For over 15 years, I have worked in various capacities with athletes. Because of my own interests, I sought academic training culminating in a Master’s degree in Exercise Science. For many years I worked with athletes to either fulfill their competition and activity goals or help them rehabilitate injuries and surgeries. As I became interested in Energy Medicine, training in Applied Kinesiology (AK) helped those athletes heal in a more balanced way. As my studies in AK progressed, I turned to Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM), to understand more deeply the systems from which the AK had developed. To further aid my clientele, I became a Chiropractor, to aid them in healing from the inside out. Because I also have a background in psychology as well, I have developed insight into the effect on the body the stresses of normal life and also those physical and emotional stresses of competition. So many times when I watch competitions, it becomes so apparent to me that so many injuries that occur have other etiologies other than the repetitive overuse to which most injuries and discomfort are subscribed.

Over the years, I have watched, and worked with the sudden unexpected blowouts of knees and hamstring injuries. I have also worked with many shoulder and elbow and wrist issues as well. How is the relationship between the physical symptoms and any corresponding stress made? We can begin to understand this relationship by recognizing that what are known as meridians in Traditional Chinese Medicine, are energy pathways which have a corresponding relationship to our body’s muscle groups. These meridians are also associated with sense organs, physiological organs, tissues, openings to the surface of the body, and to emotional states. By examining the different aspects of these relationships one may perceive how pelvic, lowback, knee, hamstring, shoulder, and other arm pain are associated through neuromuscular states of excess or deficient tone in the muscles. Unusual periods of mental over work, or physical and emotional stress can contribute to blocked, stuck congested energy in the meridians. This translates to weakness in muscle tone, which may destabilize the shoulder, neck or cervical spine, low back or lumbar spine, pelvis or knee. TCM supplies the information regarding mental and emotional states, which may block or stagnate this energy, and offers principles for effective healing. AK teaches the use of muscle testing to determine functional loss of the muscles surrounding a joint, and correlates the muscles to the meridians. It also employs the use of reflex points, which allows stuck, congested, and blocked energy to flow readily through the meridians, which supply the body’s organ and muscle functions. This allows a muscle which is hypotonic and not supportive to regain normal tone and function. When a person moves, force is generated through the body. A person’s movement contributes to the forces impacting the body’s structures and that can affect proper function. When the normal chain of action through the body’s movement is disrupted, because of muscles with unbalanced tonus, a person may experience debilitating, excruciating pain and dysfunction. If over time this is not corrected, the syndrome can move from dysfunction to actual impairment of joints.

The body is quite miraculous in its ability to compensate on all levels in an attempt to stabilize and protect its functions. Quite frequently it is found that the part of the joint reported by the patient to be painful, is actually responding to a dysfunctional muscle surrounding the joint. This pain from a muscle, is in fact over-compensating for another muscle, which is lacking in tone. It is this actually the under functioning muscle, and whatever is the root issue around its dysfunction that must be dealt with. This is why so often patients come to me for treatment because prior treatment to the problem, did not address the root issues around the primary dysfunctional muscle group. The energy meridian associated with the muscle group often is affected by the mental or emotional state, which blocks, stagnates or congests the meridian channel’s energy. This is in effect the root or source of whatever joint pain is brought to my attention. . When we are considering the knee, for example, it has very poor bony structure and ligament support. The main support for the knee is the muscle groups surrounding it. For this reason weight training, is very important for the athlete in maintaining the structural integrity of the knee. But I see that the adductors (internal thigh muscles) are related through the energy meridians mentioned above to the organs that are depleted when we are stressed emotionally because of life situations or because of competitions. If those organs have been depleted over time, and a person is living in an “adaptive” state of stress, then those adductor muscles the gracilis and the sartorius will be hypotonic. The knee will not be supported in inner rotational and medial movements. At its most extreme, this can contribute to the athletic injury known as the “terrible triad”. This is a meniscal tear, the rupture or tearing of the anterior cruciate ligaments, as well as the medial collateral ligaments. When working with injuries such as these, all the appropriate physical measures must be taken. This would include, adjusting the joint and also the spine. Remember spinal alignment influences the nerve control to all the muscles and organs. Proper muscle balance would be reintroduced. Exercise programs would be reviewed. If a person has been under stress for so long that those involved organs require replenishing and regeneration supplementation would be implemented.

The Body of an Athlete (A new approach to how it responds to the stresses of competition and life)

Susan S. McCullough, M.S., D.C.